The present invention relates to brassieres and, more specifically, to a brassiere underwiring.
A brassiere is a small, tight undergarment worn by women over their breasts. In order to lift the breasts, a brassiere has an underwiring structure. A regular brassiere 1, as shown in FIG. 1, has two cups 11 for the breasts, an underwiring 12 arranged along the bottom side of each of the cups 11. The underwiring 12 is a steel wire fastened a fabric piping 13 at the bottom side of each of the cups 11, or wrapped with velvet and then stitched to the bottom side of each of the cups 11. The presence of the steel wire at the bottom side of each of the cups 11 gives a pressure to the lower side of the breasts, causing the user to feel uncomfortable. Further, this structure of underwiring 12 tends to slip. In order to hold the underwiring 12 of each cup 11 positively in place after the user has worn the brassiere over the breasts, the shoulder straps 14 must be fastened tight. However, it is uncomfortable to fasten the shoulder straps 14 tightly.
The present invention has been accomplished to provide a brassiere underwiring, which eliminates the aforesaid problems. It is one object of the present invention to provide a brassiere underwiring, which makes the brassiere comfortable in use. It is another object of the present invention to provide a brassiere underwiring, which prohibits the brassiere from slipping. According to one aspect of the present invention, the brassiere underwiring comprises a smoothly arched resilient wire rod member, and an elastomeric covering layer molded from silicon rubber or latex on the outside wall of the resilient wire rod member and fixedly bonded to the inside wall of the brassiere. According to another aspect of the present invention, the elastomeric covering layer has a soft contact surface adapted to contact the skin of the user""s breasts, and the thickness of the elastomeric covering layer between the resilient wire rod member and the soft contact surface is greater than the thickness of the resilient wire rod member.